


hello (is it me you're lookin for?)

by cinnabun



Series: a cup of coffee [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Misunderstandings, Other, Reader-Insert, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 22:45:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13421193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnabun/pseuds/cinnabun
Summary: Okay, that could have gone better. You'd just have to try again.(3k-Kofi Poll Results Drabble - Sans/Reader, SOULmate AU: Humor, Fluff, & Romance)





	hello (is it me you're lookin for?)

**Author's Note:**

> Finally! Our second Kofi Goal was reached, and our newest story is finished! I wanted to try something a little different with this one, so I hope you guys enjoy it !!

* * *

  ❤ ❤ ❤

* * *

 Some might call you a romantic, but you had hoped that there’d be a little more to finding your SOULmate than just running into them at the supermarket.

Yet here you were, eyes locked with the short skeleton Monster you’d just crashed carts with. He didn’t look mad, which was good. But you noticed the way the lights in his sockets darted from the glow in your chest back to your face, then down again, which was…not bad. Just confusing.

“hey.” You jumped a little at the sound of his voice. Deep, but lazy, like he was on the verge of nodding off then and there. “ _cart_ a guy go shopping in peace?”

At first, you thought you’d misheard him.

“Excuse me?” You jostled your cart, attempting to untangle its wheels, with very little success. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you—”

“fuhgeddaboudit.” He shrugged lazily, chin propped up on one hand while he watched you, making no move to help you. “so…how’s it goin’? funny _meat_ -ing you here.”

What. Was he…was he honestly trying to flirt with you? _Now_ , of all times? In the middle of a supermarket? You’d seen the horror stories in the media, talking about unfortunate SOULs that had met their “mates” in terrible circumstances. Right before a crash, in the middle of a contest, during the midst of a breakup, or as the result of a broken engagement or ruined honeymoon. And right now, you felt like you were trapped smackdab in the middle of one.

Okay, so this wasn’t really at the same “result of a honeymoon/wedding” level of cringe as the others were, but it was still something. To you, at least.

Your face must have said it all, because you noticed the way his expression shifted. A subtle, gentle tug sideways, like he was suddenly nervous. Very nervous.

“ah. not the _humerus_ type?” A bead of sweat rolled down his skull. You could see the fist wrapped around the handle of his cart tighten, as the fingertips of his opposite hand scraped at his jawbone.

It took a moment for you to find your voice again. “Not…particularly.”

Well, now you sounded like some sort of boring hardass. Way to go universe, thanks for letting things turn out like this! An awkward tension was slowly filling the air. You could feel it weighing on your shoulders. Mocking you.

“ah.” The unease in his expression made you feel terrible. He shuffled in place, as you fought to think of something to say. You’d read the romance stories, & seen plenty of rom-coms! There had to be at least one thing that you’d managed to pick up from them. A witty pick-up line. An ice-breaker. A joke. Wait, he’d already tried all of those. And you’d shut him down.

Right.

You were so caught up in wracking your brain for a response that you almost missed his next words.

“how about japes?”

Japes?

“Japes?” You repeated intelligently.

“japes.” The skeleton repeated. “jokes. puzzles. traps. endurance tests. y’know?”

“Uh…I like puzzles.” You offered, shrugging.

He looked relieved. “good. my brother is a cool guy. he really loves puzzles…so maybe you two might get along. his name is papyrus, by the way. and, uh, i’m sans. sans the skeleton.”

You crooked a brow at the wink he shot you, eyeing the hand he held out with caution. Slowly, you took it, readying to introduce yourself with a simple “I’m—” before your words were suddenly cut off with an earth-shatteringly loud _PBBHHHTTT!_

Okay, maybe not earth-shattering, but it still made you jump.

Sans looked ridiculously proud of himself. “heh, ol’ whoopie-cushion in the hand trick. classic. always gets ‘em.”

Seriously? You looked down. Sure enough, the edge of a pink, faux flatulent balloon stuck out of his sleeve. Oh my god. You’d just been got. You’d been got good.

Now you were sure you were on some sort of secret prank show. Because this? This was absolutely mortifying. Thankfully, no one else was around, so you were spared the humiliation of meeting any stranger’s eyes with the burning knowledge of what had just transpired. Sadly, your apparent SOULmate looked anything but ashamed, apparently waiting for your reaction with a huge grin stretched across his skeletal face.

If he’d had any skin, you would have thought it looked like it hurt. But he didn’t, and he didn’t look like he was in any pain, so you didn’t bother yourself with the concern. Instead you jumped right to your second primary emotion: annoyance.

“Yeah, great. Uh, good work.” You muttered, straightening your back. With a single yank, your cart was pulled free. The action seemed to rattle Sans somewhat, as he jolted with the movement. “Real funny. Now, if you’d excuse me—”

Forget SOULmates. You just wanted to get away from this guy and his dumb pranks and practical jokes as quickly as possible. Now you didn’t care how rude you seemed. This had to be the single-most ridiculous, horrifying experience of your life.

I mean, seriously? Who wears a whoopie cushion in public?

It seemed to dawn on Sans that he was on the verge of majorly screwing up, because you could see him sweating again. “uh, not one for pranks either, huh? i gotcha.”

A pang of guilt rushed through you as he quickly shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked everywhere but at you. The wheels of your cart froze, keeping you firmly locked in place in the aisle.

You just wanted to buy your groceries. The media never portrayed meeting your SOULmate as this awkward endeavor. It was always flourish-ey and in slow-motion. Romantic. Playful. Silly. Happy.

Not…whatever this was.

Sans seemed to shrink in on himself. “heh…tough crowd.”

Your stomach flipped. He looked like you’d just stomped on his trump card. And in a way, you had. Every attempt at making conversation, you’d rebuffed. Every joke, you’d hardly given him a reaction.

Now you felt terrible. Acting like this poor guy, who was obviously trying to make a good first impression in such awkward circumstances, was supposed to meet all of these high-end, fantasy expectations.

Should you apologize? Try to start over? Ignore him and get on with your day? You really wanted to get out of the store as fast as possible. But now you were glued to your spot on the floor, growing increasingly frustrated.

Sans looked tired. Not sad. Just vaguely disappointed, yet accepting of his loss.

That did it. You weren’t going to let the day end like this.

With a single yank, you pulled your cart’s wheels out of their locked position. Sans sank a bit into his coat, completely caught off-guard when you whirled around to confront him. “Alright, listen. This isn’t how either of us expected this to go—”

“speak for yourself,” he muttered.

What was _that_ supposed to mean?

No. You’d deal with it later.

“— _But_ ,” You interjected. “You seem like a nice guy. And, listen. I’m kind of on-edge today. Sure, I’m not a fan of puns, or…”japes,” _or_ pranks. But, I like comedians. And I think that people with a good sense of humor are always worth at least a little bit of your time.”

“So, I…” Your mouth was so dry. Hands shaking, slipping across the handle of your cart from how sweaty they were. That entire little spiel sounded awful. Like you were just giving him your time out of pity. Which wasn’t what you were going for at all. “I mean—not that I’m just using you for jokes or anything. I mean, not that I _would_. I…uh…”

This was going worse than you’d planned. Not that this was planned at all. So, really, it was going about as well as you’d expected. Did that count as a victory or a loss?

“hey.” Sans held up his hands in surrender. “listen, just forget it. this isn’t my scene either, so if you’d rather just pretend none of this ever happened, i get it.”

He pulled the ruffles of his collar closer around his face. “it was nice meetin’ ya, anyway.”

“Wait—”

You blinked and he was gone, leaving a full cart in the middle of the aisle. Like the spell had been broken, the wheels of your cart slipped forward, and you realized you were able to move again.

That was not…how you’d expected this to go. At all.

You were shocked. You were hurt. But beyond that…

You were _pissed_.

This was not how this was going to go. He could not just appear in front of you, try to charm you, and then run when his attempts failed. What kind of coward did that? Then again, what kind of person responded so…frigidly to their own SOULmate?

He didn’t even know your name. But…you knew his.

And you were determined to fix things, one way or another. You were never the type to just roll over and give up when things got tough. And this was way beyond tough. This was…catastrophic.

But…

This wasn’t over yet.

* * *

  ❤ ❤ ❤

* * *

 You found him again a month later.

Turns out it wasn’t nearly as hard to track him down as you’d been thinking. Which was kind of disappointing, because you were ready to go full-CSI on his tailbone to track him down. Not really, but you had a couple of morally-questionable friends who were more than willing to do the dirty-work for you. Thankfully, it didn’t have to come to that.

Seems Sans was well-known around town. Like, ridiculously well-known. At first you didn’t really get how he’d managed to charm so many people. But then again, you hadn’t given him much of a chance during your meeting. Which was unfortunate, because from what you were hearing, he was great company.

Not only that, but he was a very hard worker. You’d never met someone who had more than two part-time jobs, but apparently Sans had over _five_. In the scheme of things, he felt incredibly out of your league: a put-together, funny, and all-around nice guy. You just hoped he was nice enough to give you another chance.

The individual you’d spoken with was a motherly rabbit-Monster, who was kind enough to key you in that one of his regular hang-out spots was a place called “Grillby’s.” Apparently, they used to be neighbors. She told you that Sans was a forgiving kind of person, and that there’d be no worries at all. Despite her reassuring words, you weren’t sure what to expect.

At least the place felt friendly enough. The windows were tinted, lit up from the inside with a soft yellow glow. Even from the sidewalk, where you stood, you could feel the warmth and smell the food cooking. The only real detail that caught your eye was the bright neon sign lining the top of the building, with the letters spelling out “G-R-I-L-L-B-Y-’-S” in large, hot-red font.

Oh yeah, this had to be the right place.

Anxiously, you pressed against the glass, only able to make out shadows moving around the interior. Your stomach churned. This felt kind of creepy. But you’d come all the way here, and you were at destiny’s doorstep…literally…ish. Even if things didn’t go well with Sans, you’d at least have gotten it over with. You just wanted to apologize, ask for a second chance, and accept your fate if you weren’t going to get it.

You took a deep breath. Waited. Waited a little more. Then exhaled slowly. Over and over, you repeated the process, until the sound of your pounding heart slowly ebbed from your ears. Your hands stopped trembling. And you reached out, gripped the door handle, and pulled.

It didn’t move. The sign on the door-front read “PUSH.”

Your bravado sapped away like the air from a balloon. Face-burning, you ducked inside, keeping your head low in hopes that no one had seen your blunder.

The first thing out of the nearest Monster’s mouth was a slurred, giggly, “Aww, don’ worry, hun! Happens to newcomers _every_ time!”

You jumped, whirling around to face the person who’d spoken to you. It was a rabbit with soft, ruffled pink fur, and a hazy smile. She was obviously wasted. But still, she tried to focus her dizzy gaze on you, smearing drool against the tabletop as she turned her head. You sighed. At least no one else had noticed.

“I’m Tilly! _Youuuuu’re_ lookin for Sansy, right? Yeah, I rrrecognize that— _hic_ —that shine! That’s the shine of someone who’sss _mmm_ ,” her ears flopped over her eyes, and she tried in vain to shake them away, “lookin’ fer a loved one.”

“I—I am,” You stuttered, nervously rocking back and forth next to her booth, “but. How did you know…?”

“Ohhh, Sansy talks about you _allllll_ the time!” Tilly smacked her lips. “Been goin’ on about you for weeks now. It’s driving the Dogs crazy, but s’romantic to me. He still ‘members the shine of your SOUL, after all this time…!”

She burped, loudly. “That pretty, sparkle n’ your chest. I can see it now. _Puuurty_.”

Your SOUL? You knew SOULmates could see each other’s, but you had no idea _all_ Monsters could. Heat flooded your face, and you grasped the front of your jacket self-consciously. How many people had seen such an intimate part of you, without you even knowing it? And to think, that Sans knew your SOUL _so well_ that he could describe it, in detail, to complete strangers—

You needed to find him. Now.

“Do you know where Sans is?”

“Mmmm, I dunno! Hold on—” Tilly suddenly reared upwards, throwing her head back as she yelled, loud enough for everyone in the nearby vicinity to hear, “ _HEEEY!!_ DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE SANS IS?”

“nope.” Deep in your chest, your SOUL fluttered. Said skeleton Monster was lounging at the furthest bar-counter, shoulders drawn up in a shrug. He was staring straight at you. “never heard of him.”

All you wanted to do was curl into a ball and disappear into the ether. Now it was too late for that.

“Ohhhh, okay.” Your companion slurred, flopping forward. Her expression was heartbroken. “Sorry, hun. Couldn’t find ‘im.”

You kept your gaze locked on Sans. “Uh, yeah. Thanks for the help. I’ll keep looking.”

“Mmkay!” Tilly chirped. She looked thoroughly winded. “I’ma…stay here. Keep me— _hic_ —updated!”

“Yeah…”

Sans hadn’t broken eye contact with you yet. Was it just you, or was the room getting hotter? It was getting tougher to breathe, too, a lump growing in the middle of your throat each time you swallowed. Oh boy, this was harder than you’d hoped it’d be.

You wondered if this was how Sans felt, the day he’d approached you.

The glow from your chest was like a beacon. Across the bar, a shimmer pulsed from under Sans’s jacket, mirroring your own. The light it cast looked even brighter against the darkness surrounding him. Tilly had been telling the truth—everyone was staring at you both.

You raised your chin high, despite your nervousness. Sans shifted in his seat, his expression guarded, but curious. Almost playfully daring you to approach him.

He wanted to test your resolve? That was fine with you.

You owed him that much.

Each step was oddly heavy, gravity pressing against your back, but with just enough discomfort to make you squirm. There was a man—Monster—standing behind the bar, at Sans’s side. His flames flared at the edges at the sound of your voice, but he made no move to acknowledge you.

“Hey.” Your mouth was so dry. Your hands shook. You’d been planning this for so long, and now that you were finally going through with it…you were terrified.

He was your SOULmate. You were really meeting your SOULmate.

Okay, so this was technically the second time around, but this time you were going to make sure that it…y’know. Went okay. No outside forces butting in to make you tired. No responsibilities or chores hanging over your head. No feelings of awkwardness about the situation.

Uh, maybe a few.

“heya.”

Maybe more than a few.

“Hey,” you repeated. You already said that.

“you, uh, already said that.” This was already going great.

“Uh, yeah! I mean, hi. I, uh…h…how have you been?” Wait, was that going too fast? Backtrack. “I mean. I wanted to say sorry for…the thing at the store, a while back. If you remember that?”

Of course he did, what were you even talking about? “I’m really sorry, I swear I’m not usually so…difficult.”

“rough day?” He leaned back in his seat, propping his skull in his hand. The bartender narrowly tugged his plate out of range, saving his burger from an untimely fate.

“I guess you could say that.” You laughed nervously. “I—I’ve been looking for you.”

That sounded creepy.

“i’ve been waitin’.” His smile softened. Okay, so _not_ that creepy. That was a relief. “didn’t think i’d see ya again. sorry for runnin’ off.”

“Sorry for chasing you off.” It was so hot in here. Or maybe it was being so close to the bartender that was doing it. The weight had lifted from your shoulders, but you still felt a bit awkward. Time for Phase 2.

Gently, you rocked back and forth on your heels, nodding your head at the vacant stool next to him. “Is…Is this seat taken?”

“could be.” For a moment you thought he was serious. “i’ve never asked.”

Oh. Oh!

The mental image of a chair on a date made you snort. Okay, that was a good one.

“hey, i finally got you to laugh.” He looked very pleased with himself. “wanna see if we can keep that ball rollin?”

“Sure,” you smiled, sliding into the empty seat. “Nice to meet you, Sans.”

“nice to meet you, too.” He offered you a whoopie-cushion free hand. You took it.

A slow beat passed, before your SOULmate chuckled nervously.

“so. uh…what’s your name again?”

* * *

  ❤ ❤ ❤

* * *

 


End file.
